


Strike

by Miss_sabre



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute, First Kiss, Harry Potter - Freeform, M/M, Marauders' Era, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:26:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_sabre/pseuds/Miss_sabre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius wants to bring Remus somewhere special.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strike

“Remus… Remus!” 

Remus closes his eyes tighter and burrows into his pillow. Perhaps, he thinks without really thinking it, if it doesn’t look like he wakes up he won’t have to.

“Oh come on, Moony, wake up!”

Remus feels a finger jabbing at his side. “Ge’ off.” He mumbles, trying to twitch away.

“No. I will continue poking you until-” 

“Alright!” Remus sits up and glares at the dark figure crowded onto his bed and looming over him, who just prodded him out of a perfectly lovely dream, thank you. Sirius’ hair is messy, all pushed to one side, and shadows fall across his eyes. His smile is one of barely contained excitement, of restlessness, of a secret, and of an eagerness to get moving. How Sirius can fit so much into one broad grin, Remus thinks, he’ll never know. He supposes there are many things about Sirius he will never know.

Like why he wakes Remus up at ungodly hours like –egads, is it really?- 2:26 in the morning. “Sirus…” he moans quietly, “it’s 2:26 in th-”

“2:27, now, mate.” Remus makes a grab for the blanket that Sirius pulls off him. “Come on!”

Remus spares a glance for his (now cold) ankles protruding from his too short pyjama pants and, feeling like a doomed man, swings his feet off the bed. “Where? Why?” He asks, trying to make some order of his thoughts. When Sirius is involved, however, he can’t make sense of the world on a full night’s sleep, let alone so little.

“Just come on!” Sirius says, letting a note of a whine enter his voice as he tries to manhandle Remus off the bed.

“No.” Says Remus, as decisively as he can muster. A small part of his brain registers that he will very soon be out of bed, and that his protests are really just a front to appear dignified. He ignores that bit, however, and continues. “We have a test in potions tomorrow, so I am going to lie right back down and go to sleep. Take James.” Remus attempts to lie back down, and finds large Sirius hands in the way. Sirius manages to go down on one knee while still holding on to Remus. This involves Sirius’ face smooshed into Remus’ knee.

“But Moony,” He whines, “I don’t want to take James. All he can talk about is ‘Lily this, Evans that.’” He mimics James spiritidly, if not exactly accurately, thinks Remus. “Pleeease Moony,” Sirius rubs his face against the fabric of Remus’ pants like a dog trying to flatter its master into giving it a scratch behind the ears. Remus is briefly tempted to do just that- and then mentally blames the late hour. Instead he sighs, and Sirius’ eyes light up in triumph. 

“Follow me.” Sirius stands up and drags Remus up with him. With that, and a few more weakening protests, Remus finds himself being quietly pulled out of the dormitory. He doesn’t even bother asking Sirius where they are going; he can tell Sirius is too excited to answer any direct questions.

“Come on” Sirius says again, after they step out of the common room. “This way.” He turns and looks at Remus over one shoulder without stopping and his eyes glitter. If Remus did that he’d run into a wall, and probably find himself under a suit of armor. Also, he’s not sure glittering eyes are natural. Sirius should have those looked at.

Sirius leads the way up several flights of stairs and down a long dark corridor that Remus isn’t sure he’s seen before. At the end of it is a lone window with white curtains. 

“This.” Says Sirius, gesturing grandly. Which doesn’t make much sense, Remus thinks. If this was their destination, he really should have said ‘Here.’

“We came all the way here to look at a window?” Remus asks incredulously, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. But Sirius is already pushing aside the airy looking curtains and opening the window. And then he’s climbing out the window, and Remus has to stifle a cry when Sirius disappears completely. One moment he is halfway out the window in an enthusiastic, if graceless, tumble. A blink of the eye later, he flickers out of existence.

“Padfoot!” It comes out a strangled whisper as Remus rushes to thrust his head past the curtains and out the window. He expacts to see a gut-wrenching drop. Instead, he sees a balcony that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Before he can call out for Sirius again, though, he hears that all too familiar and welcome laugh. A bit like barking, a bit like music.

“You do care, Moony,” Sirius teases, his voice near Remus’ ear. Remus turns his head so that he’s facing Sirius, who jumps back with an exaggerated “look at this” gesture, and Remus slowly lets out the breath he was going to call Sirius’ name with. The breeze picks up and plays with strands of Sirius’ messy black hair, and he unselfconsciously brushes it out of his face, still grinning. 

Remus sinks a little into his uncomfortable perch half-in and half-out the window. “What’s all this, then?” Remus asks instead of telling Sirius how glad he is that he’s not gone. Instead of telling Sirius that he’s a world class idiot. Instead of telling him that, for just a moment, he thought that the curtains falling back into place where Sirius had been would be Remus’ last memory of his friend.

“I’m not really sure what it’s for,” Sirius looks around and surveys the small balcony, “But you can’t see this from in the school. Enchanted windows, or some such.” Remus pulls his head back inside, and, just like before he sees nothing. Sirius is gone. He pokes his head forward, and there is Sirius flashing him an overly smug grin. That would explain why Sirius disappeared. “I don’t even think you can see this from outside.” Sirius gestures grandly at the courtyard below “I tried to do a test, but… well, when the castle moves, man cannot comprehend, eh, Mooney?” Sirius finishes, and looks at Remus like he’s expecting something. Remus can’t actually see the courtyard from his position; half stuck through the window, behind dangling in an unseemly manner out the other side. He hauls himself up on his hands and shoves himself the rest of the way through. Much to Sirius’ amusement, Remus lands in an ungainly pile of limbs. Remus sniffs and stands up, trying to hide a new smile. That would really ruin his posh and serious prefect exterior.

Remus is about to bring up a Certain Incident with one Mr. Black, McGonagall’s hat, and the great lake, when his breath catches. Over the shadows of the Forbidden Forest masses of gray and black clouds, spiderwebbed with lightening cracks, have gathered and are slowly rolling and spreading toward Hogwarts. Because of the height of the balcony, it feels like they’re level with the storm. The deep roar of thunder sounds in the not-so-distance.

“Wow.” Remus breathes, silenced and awed.

“It’s… It’s like…” Sirius steps toward the edge of the balcony, his face raised to the sky in a gesture of reverence. “Like the world has ended and we’re riding out the chaos. Just you and me.”

Remus, slightly surprised by the eloquence of the statement, spares a glance from to storm to see Sirius doing the same. Sirius always did have a knack for being eloquent at the perfect times. Even if he didn’t seem to have a grasp of basic grammar most of the time. 

“You read my mind, Pads.” Remus murmurs. Sirius nods, contented by Remus' understanding. How did you know?” Remus asks, tilting his head towards Sirius without taking his eyes off the magnificence ahead of him. “About… this. All of it, really.”

The wind is gusting harder, and Sirius’ loose black hair whips back and forth, and Remus wants to slick it back so that it will stop being so distracting. Sirius shrugs. “Dunno. Just found it one night. I come out here when I can’t sleep.”

“And you couldn’t sleep tonight?” Sirius shrugs again, and Remus cringes a little. Dumb question. Only that morning, Sirius had gotten another howler from his mother, telling him to stop associating with blood traitors. She had meant the Potters, who had just made their stance against “blood purity” very clear in a Daily Prophet editorial, but they just as easily could have been talking about the Lupins. Not that they knew who Remus was. Sirius, Remus knew, did his best to keep his parents as ill-informed about his life as possible. The only reason they about James was that it was impossible to keep anything secret among the old pure-blood families.

Sirius had made a few jokes at the breakfast table, and everyone had laughed the whole thing off. Remus was the only one who noticed that Sirius let the rest of the food on his plate grow cold.

Remus can easily picture Sirius lying awake in bed, waiting for Remus and Peter and James to fall asleep, before sneaking off to explore the castle, or come out here where no one can see him.

One particularly large streak of lightening illuminates the clouds with a mix of purple and that curious shade of white that lightning has. The lake flashes in the reflected brilliance.

“Moony?”

The thunder rumbles long and loud, and Remus has to shout to be heard. “Yeah pads?”

“Is this worth getting up in the middle of the night for?”

Remus glances over at Sirius, who’s still gazing at the clouds in rapture. The wind, more violent now, is whipping his clothing back and forth in an increasing frenzy, and his hands grip the railing. His eyes have a wild look in them, deep and old and mercilessly powerful. Like the storm. He looks good, like he belongs out here.

“Yeah. Test in potions tomorrow, and everything.”

Something in Remus’ voice catches Sirius’ attention. He tears his glance away from the storm and stares at Remus, who falters suddenly.

“Is this why you brought me here?” He asks.

“I’ve been wanting to take you out here for a while.”

“Not James?”

Sirius snorts and gives Remus a lopsided grin. “That great berk wouldn’t see the poetry in a storm if it was written on a bludger directed for his head.”

Remus smiles. “And I would?”

“You’re more... You know, poetic. You see things.” Responds Sirius.

Another strike of lightning splits the sky and lights up Sirius’ eyes, and before Remus can finish noting something strange and slightly too familiar in them, Sirius is in front of him with one hand reaching hesitantly for Remus’ face.

“Sirius,” Remus whispers. It was supposed to sound confused, he meant it to sound confused because he has no idea what mad thing Sirius is up to now, and it's probably some sort of joke--but instead it sounds like his brain has short circuited, and he can’t say anything intelligent with Sirius’ warmth, and Sirius’ smell, and Sirius’s _everything_ engulfing his senses. Sirius smiles, and Remus thinks this is the same brash smile he uses when he’s about to do something dangerous, and doesn’t want anyone to know that he's scared. 

And then Remus thinks, suddenly, that he might know why Sirius brought him to this balcony tonight. 

"Sirius," he tries to whisper again, but he can't get the words out because he’s being pressed against the railing, his head and shoulders pushed out into the nothingness over the courtyard, and he’s being kissed, and kissing back, and his hands find purchase in the cloth and skin of Sirius’ back. Sirius’ face is scratchy on Remus’ own smooth skin (I have enough hair to deal with once a month, he had murmured dryly once, when Sirius tried to tease him about not being man enough to grow facial hair). Remus wonders if he should be surprised at how well their bodies seem to fit together, or at the possessiveness he feels surging up in him for Sirius, but it all feels so right and he wants to laugh, but he doesn’t want to break away from the kiss. Rain begins to fall, skipping ‘light rain’ and going straight for ‘downpour,’ plastering cloth and hair to skin. Remus is a bit worried that their force will push them over the balcony, but can’t bring himself to care enough to do something. 

One of Remus’ feet slip on the now slick stone and both of them are sent tumbling into a much less precarious position on the ground. They’re left broken apart, but staring at each other. Sirius is gasping a little, and Remus is doing much the same.

“So,” Says Sirius, pushing himself up and looking to the side almost shyly. Remus sees the smile shining through, the one that hides fear. The fear of being seen as vulnerable, Remus thinks. “About that…”

“Dolt.” Says Remus in what he hopes is a, calm manner, though it comes out a little breathless. A look of bewilderment flits over Sirius’ face until he sees Remus turn away to cover up a foolish smile that Sirius understands for what it is. Remus props himself up, and then leans forward to grab Sirius and pulls him in close, closing the distance between their bodies.

Sirius tangles a hand in Remus’s damp hair, and they look at each other. Neither quite daring to start anything before the other. 

“This is the real reason you didn’t want to bring James out here, isn’t it?” Remus mutters, just for something to say. “You’d’ve gotten carried away by the passion in this great tempest, and had him against a wall, and then he would have knocked you one. Which would have been awkward in the morning.”

Sirius huffs a laugh. “Not awkward with you, though.”

“No,” responds Remus, heart pounding. “Just right.”

Sirius leans in a fraction of an inch and catches Remus’s lower lip with his, and Remus leans into him. His knees are cold and damp on the ground, and he wonders at the fact that he can notice that, and the way the rain is slipping down his neck and running down his back, but he can also not care because Sirius is warm in front of him and doing a thing with his teeth that Remus thinks is really much more pleasant than it ought to be. 

The storm flashes above them and a crack of thunder sounds so close and loud that the small balcony shakes. Neither boy notices.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This fic is actually from 2009, and it is one of the first fics I ever wrote, though it has never seen the light of day until now.
> 
> Thank you to Tartanfics for beta-ing back in 2009, and to Maelace for beta-ing in 2015. You both rock!


End file.
